:This French gazette includes the texts of treaties. The Journal Officiel (from 1990) and a separate database of selected French treaties are also on the web at [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/ Legifrance].

:This French gazette includes the texts of treaties. The Journal Officiel (from 1990) and a separate database of selected French treaties are also on the web at [http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/ Legifrance].

Revision as of 08:16, 8 April 2016

Guide to Treaty Research

Written by Simon Canick
Maintained by Silke SahlLast Updated April 2016

Introduction to Treaty Research

The Diamond Law Library is a great place to find the text of treaties. We have access to all of the resources described in this guide, and many others not mentioned. But even with the right tools, treaty research can be quite difficult and time consuming. This is especially true if you do not have a good understanding of treaties and how they are formed.

A treaty (sometimes called a convention, covenant, protocol, charter, pact, etc.) is an agreement between two or more nations or international organizations. It may be bilateral (between two countries), or multilateral (between three or more countries). The treaty text may provide for the manner by which it takes effect. Often, the agreement will enter into force when it has been signed and ratified by a certain number of parties. Unless restricted by the terms of the treaty, parties may ratify a treaty with reservations or other declarations. A reservation is a country's attempt to modify certain terms of the agreement, as between itself and other countries.

The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties sets forth the law relating to treaties and is useful in understanding how treaties are made and other fundamental concepts. The text of this treaty is available at the website of the International Law Commission. For more information on the Vienna Convention and the treaty making process, see the following sources:

For more information on the treaty making process at a national level, see the following source:

National Treaty Law and Practice
Three volumes of this title were published as part of the series, Studies in Transnational Legal Policy, together covering the treaty practice and procedure of 18 countries. Each section was written by experts from the countries. Also available electronically via HeinOnline, via the series title.

When the United States is a Party

Pursuant to Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, treaty-making power lies with the President, with consent of the Senate. That means that the President (usually the President's representatives) negotiates, drafts, and signs all treaties. Until the Senate consents, however, the signed treaty has no force. The President may choose to submit the treaty to the Senate immediately, or wait until there is a greater likelihood of obtaining the necessary two-thirds vote. Many treaties signed by the United States have never been ratified, not because Senate rejected them, but because they were withdrawn from the Senate or never submitted by the President. If the Senate approves, the treaty is officially ratified and proclaimed by the President. Note that "executive agreements" (which are less formal than treaties) may be concluded by the President without consent of the Senate, under his constitutional authority to conduct foreign affairs. For further information, see Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate(Comm. Print 1993), 4th Floor, KF 4989 .A25 1993.

Databases

Services such as Lexis, Westlaw and HeinOnline can be extremely useful in several situations. First, if you do not need an official source, databases offer quick access to the treaty texts. Second, if you are collecting sources for a law review article, or an official treaty version, electronic resources can be efficient ways to find citations. Third, you may need to search online to find the text of treaties not yet available in print. Note that none of these databases currently includes UST pagination.

HeinOnline started with law journals, but in early 2004 added a formidable array of treaty sources in PDF format. Bevans, UST, and TIAS (all described below) are reproduced in full. Hein's own KAV series (also described below) is also included, and may be useful for treaties not yet printed in UST or TIAS. Of particular interest is the powerful search mechanism which effectively incorporates and utilizes Hein's United States Treaty Index (described below). Searchable fields in the Treaties and Agreements library include title, parties, date, and subject; fulltext searching is also available.

U.S. Treaties on Lexis.com and LexisAdvance

Both Lexis.com and LexisAdvance are available at lawschool.lexis.com. To access Lexis.com via lawschool.lexis.com, you must go through Lexis Advance. After logging in, click the box Go to Lexis Advance in the upper left corner of the page. Once you are on the main Lexis Advance page, click the tab in the upper left that says Research. A menu will expand and there will be a link for Lexis.com.

This database is enormous in scope with over 13,000 fulltext documents. All documents are obtained through official government sources, such as the State Department, the U.S. Senate, and publications like UST, TIAS, and Bevans. It allows for various searching options. This database has several relatively short gaps in coverage, so there's a chance you might not find existing documents.

U.S. Treaties on LexisAdvance

At present, some international content has been migrated to LexisAdvance. More complete results are available on Lexis.com.

Formerly, Westlaw Classic included coverage of international treaties beginning with volume 8 of Statutes at Large (1778) through volume 64 (1949), TIAS (1979 to present), Senate Treaty Documents (1993 to present), and State Department Documents (1989 to present). However, Westlaw Classic is no longer available, and only some of the international content has been migrated to Westlaw Next.

This site includes links to the text of many U.S. treaties in force or under consideration. Subject areas include trade / business transactions law, family law, judicial assistance, and wills, trusts and estates.

Published annually by the State Department, this is the official index to treaties in force. It is also the foundation upon which Kavass' Guide to the United States Treaties in Force (see below) is built. It has a single volume, comprised of two lists. The first is for bilateral agreements, and is organized by country. The second is for multilateral agreements, and is arranged by subject. There is no subject index for bilateral treaties. (Also available on the State Department website and on HeinOnline).

Note that a full edition of Treaties in Force has not been published since 2003. Currently, the State Department has published 'Supplements' for 2014/2015. Their website states that a full new edition will be published in 2016.

Published annually by William S. Hein & Co., this three-volume set is an expanded version of Treaties in Force (discussed above). The most recent version is in reference office, and previous editions (back to 1984) are on the 2nd floor. Also available electronically through HeinOnline. The guide includes various finding aids, including:

By Citation (Numerical List): If you have a citation, and want a very brief account of the treaty's subject and signatories, look in Book One. Also a great place to find parallel cites to other treaty sets.

By Country: Alphabetical list of countries with which the United States has a current treaty. Note that there are separate lists for bilateral, and multilateral treaties, so if you're not sure, you'll have to look in both places. For each country, there is a brief subject heading (e.g., postal matters, cultural relations, etc.) and a list of citations.

By Subject: Within each broad subject category, this list is subdivided by country. Agreement descriptions are noted chronologically, and include place and date of signing, date of entry into force, parallel citations, and cross-references to related instruments.

Also published by Hein, this comprehensive tool covers U.S. treaties from 1776 to present, whether ratified or not. Most volumes are revised through 1995, but there is a consolidated, bound supplement. You can access the set by treaty number, subject, country, title, and date. The first five volumes contain the "master guide," organized by treaty number. For each treaty in this section, you will learn if there are parallel citations, when and where it was signed, when it entered into force, and subsequent activity. It does not tell you whether the treaty is currently in force (see Treaties in Force). The other indexes only provide enough information to lead you back to the Master Guide.

The Current Treaty Index is a looseleaf service (revised twice a year) that exists as a companion to the United States Treaty Index. Because it is less than a year out of date, it can be especially useful for finding information about recent U.S. treaties. You can search by cite, country, date, or subject.

Pending / Recent Treaties

It can be difficult to find recent U.S. treaty texts in their official version. Some get TIAS numbers (see above). Others are available online in the locations listed below. The most common official text will be a treaty document. Another option is to search the web site of the Federal agencies affected by the subject matter of the treaty you're seeking. For instance, try the Commerce Department or U.S. Trade Representative's pages for commercial or free trade agreements (see Part 3 below). For recent U.S. agreements not available elsewhere, it may be possible to get assistance from the Treaty Affairs staff in the Legal Advisor's Office of the U.S. State Department (by phone at 202-647­-1345, or via email at treatyoffice@state.org).

Recent editions in reference, earlier in cellar. The Congressional Index includes a "Treaties - Nominations" section that summarizes treaty documents, and provides citations to Senate Executive Reports when available. This section also includes a subject index. Published by CCH, the Congressional Index is regularly supplemented, and is currently less than one month out of date.

The Congressional Record is an excellent resource for finding out what activity, if any, the Senate has taken with respect to treaties signed, but not yet ratified, by the United States. Search by the name of the convention, and often you will find floor statements that shed some light.

The Publication of Treaty Texts: Current

This is the first place where ratified U.S. treaties and executive agreements are officially published. Note that the treaties often include both English and the language of the other party or parties.

Formerly published in paper, they arrived in individually paginated pamphlets, and were kept on reserve. Originally they were consecutively numbered. Since 2002, they were numbered using their in force date, so a document with the number 02-306 came into force on March 6, 2002. Periodically these were bound and moved to the 2nd floor.

The Government Printing Office (GPO) no longer publishes the TIAS in print version. Currently published electronically, they are available electronically through HeinOnline and the State Department website. This publication has often been out of date and many U.S. treaties do not yet have TIAS citations. However, at present there are at least some treaties from the past year available in TIAS.

The State Department's website has a guide to Finding Agreements. It states "The Treaty Office is not equipped to serve as a routine source of first resort for the texts of treaties and agreements. We urge you to explore all of the resources on this page thoroughly." See their guide for their recommended treaty sources, including UNTS among others.

According to the bluebook, cite only to TIAS when the treaty has not yet been printed in UST. (rule 20.4.5).

This set is virtually the same as TIAS, except it comes out irregularly in annual, pre-bound chunks. UST is no longer published by the Government Printing Office (GPO). However for older titles, researchers should cite to UST whenever possible (rule 20.4.5(a)(i)). When there are more than two parties, cite to UST and an inter-governmental source such as UNTS (rule 20.4.5(a)(ii)).

Effective October 10, 2006, the State Department updated regulations regarding implementation of 1 U.S.C. 112(a) and 112(b). According to the final rule available at 71 Fed. Reg. 53007-53009,the State Department will no longer publish certain categories of international agreements in TIAS and UST.

Treaty Documents, and Executive Documents, 2nd Floor, JX 231 SE54.

After signing, treaties are referred by the president to the Senate for ratification. All treaties and conventions submitted to the Senate for consideration, whether or not they ever go into force, are published individually as Treaty Documents. (The predecessor, Executive Documents, published selected treaties from 1921 until 1980). From 1981 (97th Congress) to 1992 (102nd Congress), Treaty Documents were bound in annual installments. Starting in 1993 (103rd Congress), however, each treaty document has been individually bound and cataloged. Starting with the 104th Congress, Treaty Documents are available on GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys) under Congressional Documents, organized by Congress.

Treaties presented to the Senate are referred to the Foreign Relations Committee. After a time, the committee may vote favorably on the treaty, thereby passing it to the full Senate for consideration. When it does so, it issues a report which includes the full text of the treaty plus recommended reservations. These reports do not always become part of the Serial Set. The microfiche set covers the 15th through 91st Congresses (1817 - 1969). Starting with the 104th Congress, Executive Reports are available onGPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys).

You may run across KAV numbers during treaty research, especially when using other Kavass products like Guide to the United States Treaties in Force, or the Current Treaty Index. KAV is a citation to the Hein microfiche set which is generally used as a source for current treaties. Note that Hein issues KAV numbers even for treaties it does not have on hand -- consequently the fiche set has some gaps. Cite to KAV only when TIAS is not yet available. Available electronically through HeinOnline.

Conceived as a current document service when it began in 1991, CTIA continues to publish both ratified and not-yet-ratified U.S. treaties and executive agreements, in numerical order. It is issued quarterly by Oceana, and generally stays current to within a year or so. Documents are published in CTIA before the government issues TIAS numbers, so you won't have access that way. If you know when the treaty you are interested in was signed, or you have a state department or treaty document number, this is a fast resource.

The Publication of Treaty Texts: Historic

When the United States May Not Be a Party

Researching treaties to which the United States may not be a party can be a challenge. Multilateral treaties are usually the easiest, as they are published in sets like the United Nations Treaty Series (UNTS), and on various web sites. Of course, only those treaties deposited with the UN Secretary General will become part of the UNTS. Although most multilateral (and many bilateral) treaties are deposited with the UN, states are under no obligation. For more information on the role of the UN as a treaty depository, see the Summary of Practice of the Secretary-General as Depository of Multilateral Treaties on the UN website, or consult the Treaty Handbook, 4th Floor, KZ1302 .T73 2013 - both were written by the Treaty Section of the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs. To contact the U.N. Office of Legal Affairs, Treaty Section, call (212) 963-2523 or email them at treaty@un.org.

Bilateral, obscure, or historic instruments are frequently more difficult. These agreements are often published only in the treaty series' or gazettes of the parties, or in commercially-produced, topical compilations. Before beginning to search, gather your information. What parties were definitely involved? When was the treaty signed? What was the subject matter? Is it in force? Whether you're seeking multilateral or bilateral treaties, the answers to these questions can streamline the process significantly.

Databases - Multilateral Treaties

This resource is useful both for finding citations, and for retrieving treaty text when you already have one. It includes the texts of several publications, including Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary General and the United Nations Treaty Series. Including over 40,000 bilateral and multilateral treaties, the UN Treaty Series online is a vast and powerful tool. It allows searching by party, date, subject, popular name, type of agreement, and full text. The texts are provided as scanned images, rather than html, meaning that they are as "official" as the UNTS print series.

This excellent database includes numerous UN legal titles, including the United Nations Treaty Series and Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary General. Searching options are better in this commercial database than in the UN's official database.

Treaty Indexes - Multilateral Treaties

Designed to give the status of multilateral treaties deposited with the United Nations (or League of Nations). For every treaty, there is a procedural history, cite to the UNTS or other sets, list of participants, dates of signature and ratification, and full text of each country's declarations and reservations. Also available (and frequently updated) onlineat The United Nations Treaty Collection. Click on link "Status of Treaties (MTDSG)".

This large volume lists basic information about multilateral treaties that were signed between 1648 and 1995. It is arranged in chronological order, making it a fantastic resource if you happen to know when the treaty was signed. It provides citations to many of the sets we own at the Diamond Law Library.

Like the Multilateral Treaty Calendar, Bowman & Harris is arranged chronologically. It provides basic information on multilateral treaties, beginning in 1856. It includes citations to many different sources, and brief subject and keyword indexes. Bowman & Harris is no longer supplemented.

Treaty Indexes - Bilateral / Multilateral Treaties

This five volume set attempts to index all treaties signed worldwide from 1900-1980. The treaties are summarized in chronological order. Each summary contains good, basic information, including parties, dates of signing / ratification, and citations to UNTS or LTS if therein. Volumes 4 and 5 index treaties by party and keyword, respectively. Unfortunately, the World Treaty Index has not been supplemented since the 2nd edition was published in 1980.

Treaty Collections

Over 2,000 volumes covering roughly 35,000 treaties registered, or filed and recorded with the UN. Contains treaty texts in the original languages, as well as English translations. A series of indexes is located at the end of the set. Each index volume covers a range of the UNTS, and allows searching by date, subject, and country. Also available online in Hein Online's United Nations Law Collection and at the United Nations Treaty Collection.

This set published bilateral and multilateral treaties deposited with the League of Nations. Most appear in English and French. The series is composed of 205 volumes, plus a nine volume general index. Available on Hein Online's United Nations Treaty Collection.

CTS spans 231 volumes, and reprints all available treaties signed between 1648 and 1919 (when the League of Nations Treaty Series began). All texts are in their original languages, with English and French translations whenever possible. Parallel citations are included, as are annotations to show later treaty modifications or terminations. The set is indexed by date and party, but not by subject.

Published since 1962, ILM is dedicated to disseminating current international documentation. Treaties are published frequently, often as exact reproductions of the original documents. Some of the reprinted treaties are drafts, or signed but not yet ratified versions. Cumulative index volumes can be found at the end of the series, but are out of date. ILM is available on Hein Online.

A collection of roughly 70 treaties approved within the framework of the Organization of American States, also available online. The web version allows searching by subject and within the text of agreements.

Treaties concluded within the Council of Europe are published in this set, formally known as European Conventions and Agreements. (We also bind advance sheets - these are located at JX 1980 .Eu1 T71). Documents are not in force until ratified by individual nations. The Council's web site has advanced searching, updated information on ratification and reservations, and the text of most treaties in the series.

Conventions and agreements opened for signature between 1949 and 2003 were published in the "European Treaty Series" (ETS No. 001 to 193 included). Since 2004, this Series is continued by the "Council of Europe Treaty Series" (CETS No. 194 and following).

A collection of multilateral treaties concluded from 1919 to 1945. There is some overlap with League of Nations Treaty Series and British and Foreign State Papers, but this set also includes treaties that never entered into force. Available on Hein Online.

When You Know One of the State Parties (Other than the United States)

If you know one of the countries involved in a treaty, then try its individual treaty series. This is an especially good strategy for bilateral treaties, as these are less likely to become a part of the UN Treaty Series. Selected, commonly used resources are mentioned below.

For a more comprehensive list of country-specific, treaty materials, try using subject headings (e.g., "Dominican Republic - Foreign Relations - Treaties") in Pegasus. The U. N. publication, List of Treaty Collections (1956), 2nd Fl Intl Law Finding Aids & 2nd Floor, JX 1976 .A49 V T72, provides a helpful list of titles of national treaty collections as of 1956. Also, the Columbia Law School Library Guides to Foreign Legal Research may be helpful when pursuing foreign resources for treaties.

Australia

We have 1975 to present, though currently the series runs about four years out of date. A more comprehensive source for Australian treaties is AustLII (Australasian Legal Information Institute), which has a vast database freely available on the web.

Lists all Canadian treaties from 1928-2003, with citations to the Canadian Treaty Series. The Canadian Treaty Calendar, covering 1928-1978, also contains lists of bilateral treaties by country, and multilateral treaties by subject. Both are well-indexed.

European Union / European Communities

Most of this six volume looseleaf set is devoted to treaties. The European Union treaties are reproduced, along with amendments and acts of accession. In addition, "marginal" agreements which have some relation to the EU are included.

This 12 volume set contains the treaties of the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Atomic Energy Community (Eurotom), and the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), from 1958 to 1982. Mostly these are bilateral, commercial agreements between the EEC and non-member countries or other international organizations.

Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs)

This is the first place to look for BITs. The source is a seven volume looseleaf service containing the text of every BIT in chronological order. Most treaties are in English, but some are only in another language. The back of the last volume has indexes by country, and date.

This database is a useful resource, and the first place to start online if you're looking for basic information about particular investment treaties. The site contains a directory (no full text) of BITs signed between 1959 and 2007. There is a chronological list of BITs, an alphabetical list of signatories, including the treaties which that State has concluded, and a bibliography of articles and books on the subject of BITs. There is also an excellent bibliography of articles about BITs under the "Publications" menu option.

Commercial / Trade Agreements

This U.S. government database includes most of the active, binding, agreements relating to manufactured products and services, between the United States and other countries. Agreements are searchable by industry, subject, and country.

This set is divided into three segments: commentary, statutes, and treaties. The treaties portion encompasses three looseleaf binders, and includes agreements relating to the importation of goods to the United States, and the exportation of goods to foreign countries.

Potentially a fantastic resource, the USTR page includes the texts of many trade-related agreements in .pdf format. It is frequently updated to include recent treaty actions. Find agreements by region or subject. A good resource for WTO and NAFTA information.

This site maintains what appears to be an exhaustive database of multilateral and bilateral trade agreements concluded between countries in North, South, and Central America. Most are in Spanish, many in English, some in French.

This six volume looseleaf set focuses on NAFTA and related documents. It also includes other commercial treaties between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and the North American Industry Classification System.

The 1986-1994 Uruguay round of trade negotiations resulted in the establishment of the WTO, as well as the completion of nearly 60 multilateral agreements, decisions, or understandings. All of these fall into the broad categories of goods, services, intellectual property, and dispute resolution. The agreements are downloadable in both .pdf and wordperfect formats.

This website is dedicated to the provision of information on international commercial law with subsidiary interests in commerce and (mostly open standard) Net and information technologies that may be of interest to law academics and professionals worldwide. It maintains a selected collection of commercial law-related treaties in html format dating from the 1800s to the 2000s.

Environmental Law

The following web sites are comprehensive enough to get you started in your search for an environmental law treaty. But individual treaties or agreements may be scattered in other reliable print or internet resources. If you are looking for the Convention on the Law of the Sea, for example, you can find it on the web site for the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, or in various books on the subject. Your search engine of choice should help in finding web sites, and Pegasus can do the same for books.

Funded by NASA, and operated by Columbia's Center for International Earth Science Information Network, ENTRI holds the texts of hundreds of environmental treaties. The agreements are accessible by date, country, subject, and keyword searches. Other useful features include dates that treaties went into force, lists of treaties in force for each nation, and a list of treaties showing signatory nations for each.

An equally impressive collection of links to human rights related treaties, this site also provides full-text search capabilities for the treaties, or other related documents. Another search engine allows for searching across multiple human rights web sites, including the United Nations, European Court of Human Rights, Amnesty International, and many others.

This organization’s website maintains an International Humanitarian Law Treaties database containing a selected collection 100 treaties and other texts in html format. The selection includes treaties pertaining to the law protecting the victims of war and law governing the conduct of hostilities, from 1856 to the present. The treaties are set out both in the form of their full text and of their individual articles. They are arranged according to subject and in chronological order.

Intellectual Property

An agency of the UN, WIPO administers over 20 intellectual property-related treaties. These can be found on this site in .pdf format, and are subdivided into three categories: intellectual property protection, global protection system, and classification.

Covering seven binders and three different titles, this periodical is powerful, but also confusing and difficult to use. Two binders are labeled Copyright and Neighboring Rights Laws and Treaties. The remaining five, covering all other aspects of intellectual property, are called Industrial Property Laws and Treaties. Each set begins with the national intellectual property laws of each country, then continues with multilateral and bilateral treaties. Cumulative indexes for each are available at the end of the last volumes.

Tax Treaties

United States is a Party

Six volume looseleaf service with current treaties and related information. The first two volumes address taxation of Americans operating abroad. Volume 3 begins with an analysis of U.S. tax treaties. The treaties themselves are arranged by country, and run from the middle of volume 3 through volume 6. Volume 6 concludes with the text of model tax treaties.

Eerily similar to Matthew Bender set, Tax Treaties is a 4 volume looseleaf service featuring U.S. tax treaties. Volume 1 has both IRS materials (including forms, publications, and regulations), and a number of model tax treaties. Volumes 2 and 3 feature the treaties along with analysis, divided by country. Volume 4 includes social security agreements, and a "new developments" newsletter.

RIA International Tax Treaties and Explanations, available on Westlaw.

Another database containing the full text of tax treaties between the United States and other countries, along with explanations and commentary.

Designed to compile legislative material relating to U.S. tax treaties, this 18 volume set also includes the treaties themselves. Within the section for each country, income tax treaties and associated documents come first, followed by estate and gift tax treaties, and exchange of information arrangements. Also available on Hein Online.

United States May Not be a party

Published by Oceana, this large set has two separate series. Series A includes all tax treaties in force when it was published in 1975. Series B began publishing new tax treaties in 1978, and has since issued roughly 40 volumes (the most recent is about 3 years out of date). All treaties in both sets are published in English, but many also have languages of the signatories. A cumulative index for both series is in a binder between the two sets.

Tax Analysts - Worldwide Tax Treaties, available on Lexis.

Appears to be a comprehensive database of tax treaties, social security agreements, model tax treaties and related news. Also includes U.S.-specific material, especially documents associated with the legislative history of tax treaties. We own the microfiche version of this product (JX1 .T198, Cabinet 49), but only for 1986-1988. You can gain access to this material by using the Worldwide Tax Treaty Index, available at JX 5505 .W893, 2nd floor finding aids, and 2nd floor stacks.

International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD)

IBFD is an Amsterdam-based non-profit organization dedicated to world taxation issues. This group publishes various, regularly-updated looseleaf sets with tax treaties and analysis. The Diamond Law Library owns a number of these, including:

The IBFD Tax Research Platform provides access to IBFD products. Within the Platform, the contents are arranged in different information collections, such as News, IBFD's various levels of country descriptions (e.g. Country Key Features, Country Surveys, and Country Analyses), Treaties, Topical Analyses, EU Law and Case Law. Tax treaties can be searched by country, subject, status and more.

An amazing resource, this 20+ volume looseleaf contains the tax treaties (in English) involving European nations, along with related documents and analysis. The main portion of the set (section C) contains the treaty texts, and is divided by country. Sections A and B feature summaries of the corporate and individual tax laws of each European country. Section D includes model tax conventions and related information. In Section E, the editors have prepared a lengthy bibliography of official documents, periodicals, and books related to international taxation.

Like European Tax Treaties, this set is exhaustive and helpful. The first part features summaries of the tax environment within each of 41 countries. The second half includes tax treaties (in English), divided by country.

The last in the IBFD series of tax treaty sets, this one covers Latin American nations. In three looseleaf volumes, each country's tax laws are summarized, then their tax treaties are reprinted in English.

In addition to these regional publications, IBFD also distributes tax treaty material for individual countries. Each contains a detailed survey of local tax law, and reprints in English the tax treaties of which that country is a part. The Diamond Law Library owns several, including:

Prepared by the Congressional Research Service, this 1,700 + page compilation reprints U.S. legislative and executive branch documents, as well as treaties relating to efforts to combat terrorism. This large document is also available electronically via GPO's Federal Digital System (FDsys).

Not only does this guide provide citation guidance, it also provides complete citations for many major treaties, arranged by subject. Also available for free download at the website of NYU's Journal of International Law and Politcs.

An excellent aid to law review citation-checking, this website from the University of Minnesotaprovides full citations for many frequently-cited treaties. It also includes a useful section on abbreviations and sources.

Other Research Guides

For more information, you might try one of these excellent research guides: